Guest Darshan Joe Goldman is the Community Engagement Director for the Western Region at HIAS, the world’s oldest – and only Jewish – international humanitarian agency serving refugees and asylum seekers of all backgrounds. He mobilizes activists, organizations, and lawmakers across California to ensure that displaced people are treated with the dignity they deserve. He will share critical updates on the impact of TBA’s service and advocacy for refugees locally, as well as on the unfolding crisis in Sudan too few are discussing, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and beyond.

(Youtube)

Special Guest: Joe Goldman.

Rabbi Adam Kligfeld offers up short bursts of meditation infused with imagery, wisdom, and the rhythms of our Jewish calendar, including selected verses from the Torah. Many of these meditations are performed in sitting positions; some standing. Simply find yourself a comfortable space and let Rabbi Kligfeld's voice and direction guide you into a world of serenity and tranquility.

Are faith and doubt in essential conflict? Or are they intimate friends, elevating and refining one another? Should a religious life, focused on faith in God, be one blessedly free from the existential doubt that can plague those who live without religion in their lives? Or should faith in God, which can so easily be pushed to the extreme, and harnessed for nefarious purposes, be tempered with healthy doses of doubt and uncertainty? We explore such questions, through traditional texts and through what is present in our own minds and hearts, as we get ready for a very faith-focused season in the Jewish calendar.

(Zoom/Facebook)

www.tbala.org

Links:

• Study Text

Rashi Class, a weekly exploration of Torah featuring a deep dive on the text and lively conversation focused on an 11th-century French commentary, conducted by Rabbi Adam Kligfeld at Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles, on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, this week beginning with Shemot/Exodus 8:4.

(Youtube)

Links:

• Study Text

This is the fifth in a series of 7 classes on The Poetry of Prayer conducted by Rabbi Joel Rembaum and presented by the Rembaum Institute for Adult Education and Family Programming:in preparation for this year's High Holy Days.

The prayers and psalms that fill our Mahzor (High Holiday prayerbook) and Siddur (regular prayerbook) have been gathered together to form a vehicle for finding our own meaningful relationship with God and to teach us the basic principles of our faith in God. They are written either as poems or suffused with poetry. As such, they constitute a spiritual art form that calls upon each of us to find our own meaning in their words, structures, metaphors, and symbols — much as we would find our own meaning in a Shakespearian sonnet or a Chagall painting — recognizing, of course, that there is Kedushah (holiness) in the prayers that makes them unique.

It is hoped that our study of key elements of the High Holiday Shaharit (morning) prayer service will aid us in making our Holy Day worship an enriching spiritual experience with which to begin the new year of 5784.

This class was conducted via Zoom on August 22 2023.

Special Guest: Rabbi Emeritus Joel Rembaum.

Getting started with our yearly spiritual accounting can feel a little bit like sitting on the 405 during rush hour. Where do we even begin? How do we move this forward? Together we will navigate a few rabbinic sources, excerpts from Rabbi Alan Lew's "This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared" and more, to help us set up our Elul route!

(Zoom)

www.tbala.org

Special Guest: Rabbi Nico Losorelli .

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• Study Text

Shabbat Teaching with Ilana Sandberg, our guest Darshanit for this Shabbat weekend.

Ilana Sandberg is a fifth year rabbinical student at JTS, her undergraduate alma mater, and is originally from Cambridge, MA. She has served in various communities during her time in Rabbinical school including at Brandeis Hillel, Nativ, the Orangetown Jewish Center in Rockland County, as well as in-house at JTS serving as the Jewish life director for the undergraduate students, admissions intern for the rabbinical school, and program coordinator for the Slifka-Nadich Fellowship. This year Ilana is serving as the rabbinic intern at Columbia/Barnard Hillel. During the summers Ilana has found herself at Ramah both in Northern California and Nyack, New York. Ilana cares deeply about making Judaism accessible and meaningful, seeking opportunities to meet new people, explore new Jewish communities, and spread thought provoking Torah.

(Youtube/Zoom)

Special Guest: Ilana Sandberg.

Shabbat Sermon with Rabbi Rebecca Schatz, at Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles, August 19, 2023.

(Youtube)

Rashi Class, a weekly exploration of Torah featuring a deep dive on the text and lively conversation focused on an 11th-century French commentary, conducted by Rabbi Adam Kligfeld at Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles, on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, this week beginning with Shemot/Exodus 8:2.

(Facebook/Zoom)

Links:

• Study Text

This is the fourth in a series of 7 classes on The Poetry of Prayer conducted by Rabbi Joel Rembaum and presented by the Rembaum Institute for Adult Education and Family Programming:in preparation for this year's High Holy Days..

The prayers and psalms that fill our Mahzor (High Holiday prayerbook) and Siddur (regular prayerbook) have been gathered together to form a vehicle for finding our own meaningful relationship with God and to teach us the basic principles of our faith in God. They are written either as poems or suffused with poetry. As such, they constitute a spiritual art form that calls upon each of us to find our own meaning in their words, structures, metaphors, and symbols — much as we would find our own meaning in a Shakespearian sonnet or a Chagall painting — recognizing, of course, that there is Kedushah (holiness) in the prayers that makes them unique.

It is hoped that our study of key elements of the High Holiday Shaharit (morning) prayer service will aid us in making our Holy Day worship an enriching spiritual experience with which to begin the new year of 5784.

This class was conducted via Zoom on August 15 2023.

Special Guest: Rabbi Emeritus Joel Rembaum.